For years, we’ve referred to the practice of our livelihoods as “making money.” But in many cases, this is rather remote from the fact. We most often “earn” money, “are paid” money, but do we really “make” it?

Here’s an example to make my point: Suppose you were an employee whose supervisor assigned you the task of digging a hole four feet deep, four feet wide, and four feet long in the grassy field behind your workplace and to do it before noon one day. (Put aside, for the moment, the notion that digging holes is not your preferred kind of work or that your college education should preclude your having to do such menial chores.)

Now let’s say, after working at the limit of your physical ability and stamina, you were able to report the task completed when you came in for lunch, only to be told by your boss that your task in the afternoon was to go back, fill in the hole, retrieve the sod, and make that hole disappear before the afternoon was over.

When you completed that task, would you have “made” any money?

Well, “Sure,” you might say. After all, you worked hard in the hot sun, sweated through your clothes a couple of times, and have some pretty tired and achy muscles to prove you did! But did you really “make” money that day?

If you were paid for that day’s work—and you certainly did “earn” your money, did your labor not represent an expense rather than income? Think about it! Where would the money come from to pay you? What did you produce that had value? Actually, nothing at all!

“Making” Money Requires Something New

Money is “made” in only one way and that is when something of value is created from something of less or no value. Adding value to a resource is the only way money can be created.

If this nation were to consist only of wage earners, and the only activities performed by those “earning” the money were not any more productive than you were that day, there would be no money with which to pay you or anyone else!

Mining ore from the ground is a way to make money because it converts dirt to something useful that someone will be willing to pay for. Refining that ore and creating metal from it is another such example of making money. Making parts from that metal and making a machine from those parts are both additional examples of adding value to something. And it’s the permanent value of what is created that is added to the total economy and provides the money that can then be moved around and paid to those who contribute to the process of creating more.

The pursuit of money, rather than being the root of all evil, is actually the effort to do or make something of value for someone else who wants or needs it badly enough to be willing to pay for it. That’s a whole lot more wholesome than viewing it as greed, isn’t it? But that’s really what making money is.